Neuropharmacology

Biography

Biography: Ronald Swatzyna

Abstract

Pharmaco-EEG studies using clinical Electroencephalograms (EEG) and quantitative EEG (qEEG) technologies have existed for over four decades. This is a promising area which could improve psychotropic intervention using neurological data. One of the objectives in our clinical practice has been to collect Electroencephalography (EEG) and quantitative EEG (qEEG) data. In the past five years, we have identified a subset of refractory cases (n=386) found to contain commonalities of a small number of electrophysiological features (neurobiomarkers) in the following diagnostic categories: mood, anxiety, autistic spectrum, and attention deficit disorders. Four neurobiomarkers were noted in the majority of medication failure cases and these abnormalities did not appear to significantly align with their diagnoses. Those were: encephalopathy, focal slowing, beta spindles, and transient discharges. To analyze the relationship noted, they were tested for association with the assigned diagnoses. Fisher’s Exact Test and Binary Logistics Regression found very little (6.25%) association between particular EEG/qEEG abnormalities and diagnoses. Findings from studies of this type suggest that EEG/qEEG provides individualized understanding of pharmacotherapy failures and has the potential to improve medication selection.